Life Goes On
by hjaltalin's owl
Summary: Snapshots in the lives of the human warriors. Sequel to Starclan Academy, the high school au. Joint effort with SweetDragonSeeker.
1. Through the Glass

**Owl: So here is the long awaited sequel that we promised. More to come soon. **

**Seeker: Owl's working on the next chappie as we speak. So enjoy. **

**Owl: Tell us what you think; we're looking into making these longer and more detailed than in Academy, and want your opinions. Also, there may be some triggers, and we'll warn you about those at the top of the page. Any strictly mature stuff will be posted strictly to tumblr, and we'll let you know about that too. **

**Seeker: Suggestions always welcome; so are questions. XD So review! Also, this chapter is the sequel (of sorts) to the first of the Graduation Arc on Academy. **

**OvO**

Dustpelt had always sworn to himself that he wouldn't pace. Pacing was for stupid tv shows and those silly books that Ferncloud read and he pretended not to love. He'd promised himself that he wouldn't be like that. So now, he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. He might settle for beating his head against the waiting room vending machine. He should be in the delivery room, holding Ferncloud's hand and petting her sweaty hair, but by the time he'd gotten Ashfur's call and managed to get out of work, they'd already had her in surgery. Emergency C-section; the baby's umbilical cord had gotten wrapped around its neck, and they couldn't wait any longer to deliver. Ashfur had gone in with her, but the room had been too small to admit Dustpelt as well, and as panicky as he was- not to mention how dirty and unsterile he looked- the doctor had requested that he wait outside.

The vending machine idea was starting to sound better and better.

A nurse padded into the room, and he leapt up from his chair at once, nearly pouncing on her in his urgency for news.

"Where is my wife? Is she alright? Is the baby?"

The nurse cowered. Dustpelt was not a small man, and at the moment he was covered in dirt, and oil from work, and one of his hands was drenched in dried blood; he had been worried enough the last few days about Ferncloud's false labor pains, almost three months early, that he'd asked Ashfur to keep an eye on her and call him if anything happened while he was at work. He'd had his hands buried in the undercarriage of an ancient Toyota today when his phone had gone off, and he'd jerked them out too fast in his hurry to answer it, cutting three of his fingers on a jutting piece of metal. He hadn't bothered to clean up before jumping in his truck and heading to the hospital.

The nurse took a cautious step back. Her nametag read 'Echosong.'

"I don't know, sir; but I can find out." She added quickly. "What's your wife's name?"

"Ferncloud."

"I'll be right back; I'm sure she's fine." She assured in a soothing voice, and scurried from the room.

That's when Dustpelt started pacing. He ran his hands through his hair. He collapsed back into his chair and tried not to tear his hair out or scream. He was probably scaring the other people in the waiting room, but he couldn't have cared less about them.

"Sir?"

His head jerked up. A doctor stood in the doorway this time, looking too clean to have just performed surgery of any kind, but that didn't stop Dustpelt from bouncing to his feet at once.

"Are you Dustpelt?"

Dustpelt nodded.

"My name is Barkface; I was the one who performed your wife's surgery." The doctor explained.

"How is she?"

The doctor smiled.

"She's just fine; she's resting now. You-"

"And the baby?" Dustpelt interrupted hurriedly.

The doctor hesitated now.

"The baby will be fine."

"Will be?"

"Your son was born almost three months early, sir; he's roughly three pounds and a new born should weigh in between five and seven. He'll need to remain in the hospital for some time until we can be sure all of his organs are fully formed and operating correctly and he gains some weight. You see, what happened was his umbilical cord got wrapped around his neck, causing stress on your wife's body inducing early labor. However, it looks as though he'll be just fine. We were able to unwrap it and successfully deliver." He gestured down the hall with a tilt of his head. "Would you like to see them?"

He nodded, vigorously.

"Please."

He almost stepped on the poor man several times in his hurry to reach his wife and child. Finally, after the third or fourth time, Barkface stepped aside and gestured down the hall.

"Room 113. Go on."

Dustpelt didn't so much as hesitate, almost sprinting down the hall. He slowed only when he reached the door, and pushed it open carefully.

"Ferncloud." He was at her side in a moment, casting a grateful glance to Ashfur before transferring all of his focus to his pale wife. "You okay, baby?"

She looked at him, her fingers squeezing his where he'd wrapped both hands around one of hers. Her green eyes were a little foggy and unclear.

"The baby?" she asked woozily. "Is the baby..?"

Dustpelt leaned in, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"The baby's fine." He cast his eyes up at Ashfur as he said it, and his brother-in-law's eyes twinkled with a mixture of relief and exhaustion as he tilted his chin at something behind Dustpelt's shoulder. Turning his head slightly, Dustpelt saw an incubator standing against the wall, his tiny son squirming inside.

"See." He murmured, moving aside so that she could see the baby as well. "He's right there."

She relaxed a fraction as she focused on the baby's shape beyond the glass, and she asked,

"Is it a-?"

"Boy." Dustpelt murmured, remembering how the doctor had said 'son.' "It's a boy."

She smiled, blinking her gaze back to him, and he dropped to his knees beside the bed, resting his cheek on the sheets. Ashfur leaned in to kiss his sister's pale cheek.

"What're you gonna call him?" he asked. Dustpelt looked back at the tiny baby boy, and knew Ferncloud was doing the same.

"Larchkit?" she asked him softly, and he felt her eyes on him now. He smiled, eyes moving to meet hers.

"Larchkit."

**OvO**

**Reviewwww! XD ~Owl &amp; Seeker**


	2. The Funeral

**Owl: This is a sequel to the chapter 'Recruitment' in Starclan Academy, and was the first chapter conceived for Life Goes On. **

**Seeker: I cried. It made me so sad… *sniffles***

**Owl: I'm sorry in advance for all tears, but this is probably one of the best things I have ever wrote. **

**Seeker: So read and review, yeah? As usual, we don't own it. :'( **

**OvO**

The gunshots echoed in his ears. Blackfoot couldn't even hear his own heartbeat over them, them and screams of command. But he sure as hell could hear the sobs, sniffing, and whimpers of his oldest friends around him.

He wanted to reach out and comfort them, any of them, but he was frozen in his spot at the front of the crowd. His gaze narrowed in on one spot, a spot he would never forget no matter how much he drank that night like he planned. Like he had every night since he got the news.

The gun shots stopped, and someone was talking about honor and respect, but Blackfoot couldn't hear what it was exactly; everything was muted to him. He couldn't even feel the pressure on his hand from where his wife was squeezing his fingers, whether to comfort him or herself he didn't know.

Blackfoot felt a hand brush against his shoulder; he just thought it was someone behind him smoothing out his suit. Why someone would do something like that at a time like this he didn't know. It wasn't until Littlecloud, who was standing next to him, whispered in his ear about a general that he could bring himself to try to focus on the world around him.

A man was walking towards them, and Blackfoot barely had enough strength to look away from the casket before him. The man looked familiar, like a face he wanted to forget. The face that took away his best friend. The man knelt in front of where Blackfoot and Tawnypelt sat; her grip on his hand tightened before letting go. The General reached out and handed Blackfoot the flag that had draped across the casket not long ago. Blackfoot took it and held it gently, caressing the material. He couldn't look at it for very long; the flag meant that this was real, and he couldn't accept what was happening for anything but the nightmare it became.

"… Please accept this flag as a symbol of our appreciation for you loved one's honorable and faithful service." General Cedarstar said, saluting the group of friends. A steady drum beat began to play as they lowered the casket into the ground and everybody rose to stand, the officers and other marines saluting with the General. Blackfoot felt like every hint of happiness in his world fell with the box that held his best friend, his sister.

Blackfoot didn't know how long he stood there after the funeral had ended, all he knew was everybody had cleared out long ago and only those of his gang still stood in the field of graves. He lost count of how many people had offered him the clichéd "Sorry for you loss" or given their condolences, and he hated every one of them. He didn't need pity or sympathy, he just wanted Russetfur back.

"Hey, I got the car." Tawnypelt whispered, squeezing his hand once more. He hardly ever let go of it during the service, save for that one moment when he accepted the flag.

"Can I- Can I just- stay here for a little bit?" He asked slowly. He didn't want to crack just yet, not until he was in the safety of his house and bed.

"Yeah, Littlecloud and I will be waiting. Some of the others are going to The Moonpool in a little bit if you want to go." Tawnypelt told him before turning to leave him alone. Blackfoot knew she had latched onto Littlecloud's shoulder as they walked towards the car.

Blackfoot stared at the headstone before him. It was black and marble; Tawnypelt designed it for Russetfur.

He just stood there, not saying anything, for what felt like days but was probably only a few hours. He remembered Littlecloud coming to check on him, but Blackfoot just sent him away. He didn't want to leave; if he could just stay here forever he would be fine with that.

Eventually Blackfoot came to enough to realize it was getting dark out. Blackfoot turned to see his wife and Littlecloud still back with the car, waiting patiently.

"I'll come see you tomorrow, Russetfur." Blackfoot said, turning back to the grave. He gently placed his hand on it before turning to walk shakily away.

"You ready?" Tawnypelt asked as he approached.

"Can we go to the bar? I think I need a drink?" He asked her softly.

"Yeah, all our friends are there now." Tawnypelt tried to reassure him, but Blackfoot just nodded, knowing the most important one wasn't.

0v0

Blackfoot frowned as he entered The Moonpool Bar. Everyone inside was solemn; grief was so thick he could cut it with his nails. A lot of people were there, even some who didn't even know Russetfur, like Firestar and Graystripe. There were drinks going around and almost no music for once.

"Hey guys, over here." Kinkfur called out to the small group as they walked in. They joined the table, but sat in silence, not knowing what to talk about. Speckle, one of the barmaids, brought beers for the newcomers before going back behind the bar, a small hint of sadness in her eyes as she watched the group. Blackfoot could feel the rest of the people staring at them and he wanted to scream at them for it.

"She took me to prom." Rowanclaw said suddenly, a drunken slur to hi-her voice. Her hair bow around her neck, she continued, "She wore her new uniform. She looked pretty hot."

"Rowanclaw's right. Russetfur wouldn't want us to sit around like geezers and be sad. We should reminisce on all of the good times." Flametail said from beside Littlecloud.

"I didn't say that." The red head muttered, confused.

"It was implied." Flametail replied, shrugging slightly and taking a sip of his drink; it spoke to how upset he was that he, who didn't usually like alcohol, was drinking at all.

So that's what they did. They told stories and laughed and remembered. Blackfoot even found it in him to tell about his and Russetfur's childhood together, all the times they'd gotten into trouble and played practical jokes on the neighbors. He hadn't thought he would be able to laugh, but the memories succeeded in bringing the ghost of a smile back to his face.

"I'll get the next round." He said at last and stood, ignoring the protest. He suddenly felt the need to get away form the table, the crowd, again for a while. He headed towards the bar, but instead of ordering he sat on a stool and laid his head down in his hands. He felt like he could sleep for days. A 'thunk' beside his head startled him. He opened his eyes to see a tall mug of beer before him.

"On the house." The soft voice came from above him. Looking up, he saw Ivypool, who had recently inherited ownership of the bar. "For your loss." She murmured.

"Thanks." He nodded at her. She just nodded back and left him to nurse the beer. Looking around the bar, he began to notice how much livelier it had become with more people talking about Russetfur and the good times they'd shared with her in the past.

He nodded his head at Boulder, Russetfur's combat buddy, who had done everything he could to save her and had taken off time for her service when his best hadn't been enough. He had been one of the people to carry her, Blackfoot briefly remembered. Dustpelt was in the corner with a few buddies, and shot him a brief, wan smile. Oakfur had joined the table with his friends, and was hanging off of Rowanclaw. While they all grieved for the loss of their friends, they were still able to find a little happiness in her memories, and as long as she was remembered Blackfoot could be happy. He stood suddenly and cleared his throat, getting everybody's attention.

"For Russetfur." He yelled, raising his beer up, and everybody in the bar followed suit. Boulder even called out her old nickname 'Red' with the group. Blackfoot listened to the chanting of his best friends name and smiled- truly smiled- for the first time since he got the news.

**OvO**

**Review! ~Seeker &amp; Owl **


	3. Not an Update but an Update

Not an Update but it's an update.

We have returned. After two years of college, a few breakdowns, finding ourselves like adults are supposed to. We have decided to reawaken the teenagers inside of us and write more Starclan Academy fics. We'll spend a little more time on Life Goes On, the darker adult sequel, because we are over twenty and have stopped caring about the rating and wanna have fun with what we write. We'll still post on this story, there are some plots and arcs we want to finish up.

You can also find us on the blog as well, Starclan-Academy-verse-blog at tumblr.

Look forward to updates and chapters on both fics, because we are back babies. You can find our bickering on tumblr if you liked that.

Sincerely,

Owl and Seeker

3


	4. The Bills are Due

**Guess who plays the pronoun game, I do! This is a sequel from the Mystery Arc in Starclan Accademy if you want to reread those. There's more at the bottom. Enjoy. **

**0v0**

Speckle stared down at the bills in her hand, the paper shaking so hard she couldn't read the numbers. Not like it mattered, she already had the numbers memorized from months past. Between keeping the lights on and food in the refrigerator, she didn't have enough for the hospital bills she had just gotten. Frisk, her beautiful son, had gotten drastically sick and Speckle would do anything for him. The waitress had done some things in the past, both recent and in the distant past, to be able to make mincemeat. Stuff she'd rather forget now but kept her up late at night, things she would never tell anyone even on her death bed. Only recently had she sold the necklace Sol had given her years ago.

But now she didn't know what to do. She had dropped out of high school right after prom, never graduating after her parents kicked her out of the house and she refused to be a burden on her friends outside of needing a place to sleep at night. She had immediately started as a waitress at the best diner in town, The Fourtree, but even with making a decent wage she could barely make ends meet. The only thing to her name was her little house, but even that was under the bank.

Even then, their house was small, a little old and musty, and only had two bedrooms. That was it, everything crammed together with no dining area, and the kitchen might as well be a part of the living room. It was basically a small box. But it was hers for now.

Speckle blinked as she watched a tear hit the page. She gasped slightly as she tried to breathe in. Turning, she sat in one of the small chairs at their table. She placed her palms up to her eyes to suppress the flood of tears that was always threatening to spill. She took in a few deep breathes to calm the shaking in her body. A knock on the door shook Speckle out of her spiraling head space. Looking up, startled, she slowly moved towards the door, briefly stopping at the small mirror she kept beside it. She wiped her eyes and checked to make sure that they weren't red and puffy.

Taking a final deep breathe, Speckle opened the door only to see her old friend Sorreltail on the other side. Time had been well on her old friend, even if it had only been four years since school ended. She had chopped off her hair not long after she opened her daycare to avoid sticky fingers, but she was still a beauty.

"Sorreltail, sorry." Speckle greeted as she sighed and relaxed. "I must have lost track of time."

"Hey, don't sweat it." Sorreltail smiled, moving into the little house. "Got any tea? I thought we could chat while Frisk and Lilykit played."

"Yeah, I was just about to start a kettle. Speckle lied, moving twards the kitchen. She smiled as she saw her son playing and throwing a large ball at Sorreltail's daughter. Lilykit was about a year younger than Frisk, Sorreltail having had an early pregnancy too. The blonde had a good husband who supported her through it though, and she had started her own company after a bout with Post-Partum.

Speckle worked nights most of the time and would come home after work and would have breakfast with Frisk before dropping him off at Sorreltail's place so she could sleep. Then spend the evening with her son before her day started all over again. It wasn't perfect, but it worked until she could be moved to day shift when Frostfur retired.

"How was he today?" Speckle asked moving to set the mug down in front of the amber eyed woman.

"He was great, as always. He has quite the vocabulary for his age." Sorreltail replied, knowing the brunette read to her son every night. Sometimes they even finished whole novels in a night. "He's also gotten quite curious over the years."

"That's my boy." Speckle tried to cover her wince with a humorous smile but let it fall from her face easily. "Frisk asked about him again, didn't he."

"Yeah, Dustpelt dropped off the baby for the day. It's date night. Frisk asked why he-" Sorreltail explained gently but Speckle cut her off.

"Yeah, it's been happening for a while now." Speckle said quietly looking down sadly at her mug.

"Speckle, that's what I'm here to talk about." Sorreltail started hesitantly, a nervous tone in her voice. "You must have heard he's back in town."

"M-hmm I saw it in The Clan announcement 'New Administrator and Defense Attorney Move Home.' I didn't even know he got married." Speckle laughed bitterly, not meeting Sorreltail's intense gaze, looking anywhere else.

"I know, sweetie, but Brackenfur and I have a plan." Sorreltail started.

"Plan?" Speckle asked, looking up at her friend, confused.

"Yeah, we've been talking to Firestar about it too. You're going to sue Sol for child support." Sorreltail lent back in her chair and raised an eyebrow. Obviously satisfied. "We have a case; he knew about Frisk and never offered to pay anything. All we need is your signature."

Speckle stuttered and stared open mouthed at the other woman. "I can't do that."

"What, why?" Sorreltail, straightened up and stared at her friend like she had gone crazy.

"Because that's not fair to him. I can't take anything from him, let alone his money. He's happy now, I don't want to disturb that." Speckle explained.

"You still love him, I get that. But now is not the time for that." Sorreltail said, a harsh tone coming into her voice. The one thing she always wished was that Speckle would get over her past.

"Of course I love him, how could I not? He may have left my life broken when he walked away, but my heart will always belong to him." Speckle stood up and moved to lean over her sink, feeling sick.

"Then don't think of it as taking something away from the bastard, but giving something to the most important person in your life. Your son, Speckle. You can't keep living like this." Sorreltail said, leaning towards her.

"I know, but I'm so close to getting that promotion and-" Speckle turned towards her, hand out to wave as she tried explaining. She stopped when a new voice cut through the tense air.

"Mommy, Mommy. Look." Frisk's voice squeaked as he came running up to her and into her legs. Lilykit paused not far behind him. "It's for you."

Frisk held out a small rock in his tan hand. It was a slightly deformed heart. Speckle looked at her son, a face so much like her's, the same almond-shaped eyes, and dark hair. He looked at her with his bright gold eyes and small dimple on his smiling face and she crouched to hug him tightly. She looked back up at Sorreltail over his head. "I'll do it."

**0v0**

**So I know Frisk isn't Sol's in the books but Speckle always wished her kits belonged to him. So I worked with it. Also a disclaimer some characters may not have the lives you see them, some have boring or dull lives others have bad ones. But a lot of them are going to go through development and we hope you stick with it. If you ever have questions we will answer them either on our blog.**

**So review and I hoped you liked it.**


	5. Goldenrod and Graymalkin

**More from charas we've been missing! Honeyfern and Ashfur; didn't y'all wonder what had happened to them? Probably not, but here they are anyway. **** Promise we'll try and get to some of the more popular folks soon, but I (Seeker) at least can only write what comes to me. **

**SSS**

Honeyfern looked down at her pretty white shoes- flats, because she was practical, and if she ended up having to run from the guy she was meeting tonight she wasn't going to try it in six inch heels- and bit her lip. She still wasn't sure this whole 'blind date' thing was a good idea, but the dating site she was on insisted that it was better for its members to not post profile pictures that could be…misleading. Instead, the patrons simply filled out a complicated questionnaire, and were matched with other similar singles, who they then had the option of chatting with and if they so chose, meeting. This café even had a special deal with the site, so that if you went on a first date there, your meal was free.

She hoped the food was good.

"Um…Hey."

She looked up at the hesitant voice, heat almost automatically flooding her cheeks, to find a familiar young man standing beside her table. He was a little leaner than she remembered, in the way of someone who could take better care of himself, and his ashy hair was buzzed short on one side and not on the other, giving him a mildly asymmetrical look that was nonetheless attractive. His eyes, though, were the same quiet, thoughtful eyes he'd had in school. He held two paper coffee cups, and was looking down at her with a rather bemused expression.

"Ashfur?" she asked, confused; she hadn't seen Ferncloud's brother in almost five years. She'd thought he'd moved to somewhere bigger, where his subtle intelligence could get lost in some unknowing crowd. "What are you doing here?"

His pale cheeks colored a little, but he still looked more confident than she felt.

"I…think I'm your date?" he turned one of the cups so that she could see the word 'Goldenrod' scrawled across it in slashing handwriting. Her username on the dating site. She blinked, and met his gaze.

"Graymalkin?"

He grinned then, a flash of white teeth that lit up his whole face, though she was distracted from the expression a little by the glint of silver from the hoop in his lip.

"Can I sit down?"

**SSS**

"So what made you decide to come back?"

The breeze was soft against her bare shoulders as Honeyfern and Ashfur walked toward the lake after their meal, which had indeed been very good- and free for both of them, as it turned out; it had been his first date through the site as well.

He shrugged beside her, walking with an easy, slightly lopsided gate as though he were used to moving through a crowd rather than a nearly deserted boardwalk.

"Just thought it was time. Ferncloud had another baby last fall, and I really wasn't getting more work in the city than I would here. Maintenance isn't exactly a difficult job to find demand for. And I like it here. It's quiet."

_Homesick. _She thought.

"I thought about leaving for a while too. After I finished school." She told him, rubbing her shoulders as the wind changed to blow in from the lake rather than the land and grew a little chiller. Without ceremony or hesitation, he shrugged out of his overshirt and held it out.

"So why didn't you?"

The shirt smelled like oil and something almost spicy, and she couldn't decide if she liked it, but it was at least warm.

"I just never got around to it. And now I have a clientele here, and it's just easier to stay." Honeyfern had gone to cosmetology school in the city, and for a while had considered setting up as a hairdresser there, but in the end it had made more sense to set up her shop in the same town she'd grown up in, where people knew her and she knew them.

She saw him grin out of the corner of her eye as she leaned against the boardwalk railing and stared out at the lake.

"We both sound like silly country bumpkins, stuck in the same little town." He commented dryly. She laughed.

"We do."

For a few minutes they both just stood there, gazing out at the gently rippling water as the wind played across its surface. Then she asked,

"So, if you like it so much, why'd you leave in the first place?"

A shadow passed over his face, gone before she was even sure she'd seen it, and he said lightly.

"Well, when you're young and you think your heart is broken, you do some stupid shit."

_Oh. OH. _She'd forgotten, and now she wanted to kick herself. Ashfur had never really dated in high school, because from the first day of freshman year, he'd been head over heels for Squirrelflight. They'd actually dated for a while but it had been obvious to everyone, probably even Ashfur himself, that for her it was merely a passing fancy. Then she'd moved on, fallen hard for Brambleclaw, and never looked back. Ashfur had spent the next three years waiting in the wings, hoping she'd come back to him. Instead, she'd married Brambleclaw shortly after graduation. From something Ferncloud had said, they'd even asked Ashfur to be in the wedding.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"

He waved the apology away.

"It's done. I'm over it." He didn't sound entirely convincing, but that could be because she didn't know him at all anymore.

Still.

"Berrynose and Poppyfrost are engaged." She told him abruptly, turning her gaze back to the water. He, however, turned to face her, leaning his back against the railing instead.

"I wasn't gonna ask, but…you good with it?"

Good with her ex marrying her sister?

"I love them both." She told him truthfully. "And I'm the one who broke it off with him. I can't really complain."

"Ah." He was silent for a moment.

"It's still hard, sometimes." She added, after a moment. "Just…seeing them together and so happy. But…" She felt the same shadow she'd seen on his face pass over hers. Less pain than the memory of pain. "It gets better every day."

"Yeah."

Deciding it was time to lighten the air, she pulled her sugar-blonde hair aside so that he could see the tiny twin scars that would have been invisible if her skin were paler. When she was sure he'd seen them, she explained.

"I was out hiking with some friends, and slipped on a rock. Fell on a snake of all things." She could laugh at the memory now. He leaned a little closer to her, examining the bite scars with interest. "No one saw what kind of snake it was. The attack was bite and slither apparently, but whatever it was, it knocked me for a loop. I was out for a couple days while they tried to figure out what kind of anti-venom to give me. The day they finally got the cocktail right, I woke up to find my sister crying in my boyfriend's arms. They didn't know I was awake, and I got a good long look at them, standing there together. They weren't doing anything, just standing there, but they looked right, you know? Like they belonged."

Ashfur nodded slowly.

"So, what? You told them to get a room?"

She laughed.

"Basically. After I was better, of course." She made a face. "I was selfish and grumpy enough to still want them to cater to me until I got better. _Then_ I let them go off and get completely absorbed in each other."

He joined her laughter.

"Nice."

"Yup. Now they're getting married, and I'm the maid of honor. In pastel pink." She shuddered. His laughter, which had begun to die, redoubled. She gave him a wry look. "Jerk."

Not that it wasn't funny. If it had been rose, or even magenta, it wouldn't have been a problem, or if her skin had been as pale as her hair. But with her deep caramel-colored skin, pastel pink would make her look like the victim of a drive-by spray-tanning.

At that image, she couldn't help but start laughing again too.

They stood there until true dark began to fall, talking about embarrassing fads they'd been into before they'd perfected their current looks and strange things they'd seen on other people, and things they'd liked. Then, when it was almost too dark to see, he'd offered to walk her back to her car.

"It's been really nice, talking to you." Honeyfern commented as they reached the side of her car. "I'm sorry we didn't hang out more in school."

"Ah, well," he flicked a pebble under her car with the toe of his boot. "We ran in different circles, then."

They still did, really. But that was more alright now than it had been then.

"Yeah." She agreed quietly. He bumped her shoulder with his, so lightly it could have been accidental.

"We could hang out again sometime." He told her, almost teasingly. "We do live in the same town again."

She laughed again, and bumped his shoulder back, just as lightly.

"Yeah."

**SSS**

**See y'all soon! **


End file.
